Former Member of Parliament for Ghanzi North under the Umbrella for Democratic Change (UDC) Noah Salakae will have to wait a little longer to know his fate after the high court this week postponed his court case in which he is challenging the outcome of the just ended general Elections.
Salakae is challenging the election results, which he lost to John Thite last month.
Salakae’s suspicions of possible election rigging were raised after some ballot boxes were allegedly found in the Ghantsi District commissioner’s toilet after elections.
The same ballot boxes were then transported in a truck, which Salakae followed from Ghanzi to Indaba Lodge, then escorted to the High Court a fortnight ago so that it can be opened to verify its contents.
The opening of the ballot boxes, which was set for yesterday however did not happen as the court postponed the occasion to the 21st of November 2019 because replying affidavits were served late.
Speaking to The Voice on the sidelines of court Salakae’s lawyer, Boingotlo Toteng confirmed that his client was one step closer to winning the case despite the postponement.
“The postponement was inevitable because the replying affidavits were served late on Monday hence we ought to work around the clock to reply to those instructions that we received very late, and even so the Judge (Justice Gabanagae) did not have the chance to see them thus the rescheduling is justified,” he said.
Toteng further indicated that even though the rescheduling is justified they still think that the opening should have proceeded because postponement allowed time for possible tampering with evidence.
“The matter could have been long filed because of the power of attorney but we were instructed very late, the power of attorney which was raised by Attorney Charles Gulubane who was representing the Attorney General.Furthermore, I was happy with Gulubane’’s dismissal on the order of court because it was worth it as he was no longer important to the matter as he had done his part. He was also becoming a nuisance in the points he raised,” said Toteng.
Responding to questions asked by the media this week, Salakae said there are a lot of irregularities surrounding this case and they are going to be answered next week.
“There are several issues that are going to be exchanged in this time period such as creating an inventory so that we are able to know the content that were in the truck which was established and we found the other box missing and those are some of the things that we will be looking at on the 21st of November.”
The second one is that, in the District Commissioner’s replying affidavit, he confirmed that there were ballot papers found in his toilet after six days, which suggests that the ballot boxes were in an open space for six days which is not in accordance of the law which states that “immediately after the elections, ballot boxes should be sealed until they are brought to the registrar of the High Court” and that was not the case,” Salakae explained.
The Case will resume at the Gaborone High court next week Thursday.
